ND Curriculum Initiative

Subject & Standards

Needs Assessment/Rational

When I decided to use this research paper as my TWT study, there was no doubt in my mind how much merit it held as a tool for students to use in my class, as well as others. It was easy for me to select it is due to the fact that I am a strong advocate of developing the skills of writing and self-expression. In my experience, I have seen way too many teachers wasting hours upon hours directing study in sentence diagramming, tedious vocabulary memorization and definition, and more Accelerated Reader than I can comment on without turning to hysterics. Now, I’m not saying that these items are not valuable. After all, state testing covers areas like these every year. Yet, I think it’s possible that as teachers we are missing the big picture here. Just because students can diagram a sentence or correctly define a construction (A construction in which a word is used to modify or govern two or more words, often so that its use is grammatically or logically correct with only one) does’t mean you can write well or communicate effectively.
In February of 2004, my students were given the mandated North Dakota State Assessment. According to the numbers, they did remarkably well. For each of the following standards in Language Arts that were covered on the test, eighth grade students in the Bowman school district scored an average 73% correct over a 67% state average. Unfortunately, the vague nature of the information I was able to access about exact test content and individual student performance provided little backing for my stand.
With these numbers in mind, I was surprised when I had my students engage in writing projects in my English classroom. They seemed reserved with personal input and organizational efforts were strained. On short paragraph assignments, students averaged scores no lower than a “C-” on a cumulative scoring average from three assignments. But, when they had to develop an essay, support their opinion, and organize a paper of length, they seemed to have more difficulty. On an essay test for the novel, Of Mice and Men, I scored only four “A’s” out of 41 students. And five students actually performed at a 69% or lower (failing at our school). With that information at hand, I knew developing their writing skills would be a priority in my classroom.
Through some additional research, I found some compelling arguments to support my position. First, I must point out the obvious changes in 2005 ACT and SAT testing.  Beginning in February of 2005, ACT offered an optional essay section in addition to its regular test. Though not required by ACT as part of the score now, many colleges and universities are asking that students take the test as part of their admission requirement. As of March of 2005, the new SAT added a mandatory essay section. In an August 17, 2004 article in USA Today, Richard Atkinson, former president of the University of California System, said that the SAT essay would send a clear message to K-12 students, teachers and parents, that learning to write is of critical importance. I strongly agree. Though the cost and time element in relation to testing has increased, I believe we will see benefits develop from the essay portions in relation to how students should be educated in pre-college years.
Next, I read a November 2004 New York Times article entitled “Writing to the Test”,  by Chareles McGrath . The article placed great importance on the implementation of the SAT essay. It reported that the test could be seen as a wake-up call for what is happening with writing before students get to college. In a study done by the National Commission on Writing in America’s Schools and Colleges, it was revealed that most fourth-grade students spend less than three hours a week writing, and that two-thirds of high schools seniors do not write a three-page paper as often as once a month for their English classes. Due to the fact that teachers and students seem to get so wrapped up in other aspects of English, as those I discussed in the beginning of my statement, it is easy to see how these sad statistics can come to be. Finally, if not for the college factor, then the idea of basic communication should compel all English teachers to be more pro-writing/pro-research. In “You Can’t Write Writing”, by Dr. Wendell Johnson, et al (International Society for General Semantics, December, 2004), it is noted that in teaching writing we must remember that it is not just the conventions that must be covered, but the student of English must realize that his first obligation to his reader is not to be grammatically fashionable, but to be clear and coherent. One does not just communicate, one communicates something to someone. These have to be my favorite lines yet!
As a final support for my pro-writing campaign, I will offer some information from the website http://www.plainlanguage.gov/Summit/writing. This particular page from the site stressed the importance of writing and oral communication skills in the workplace. “Ninety-six percent of the nation’s 1,000 largest employers say employees must have good communication skills to get ahead; yet, executives at the nation’s 1,000 largest companies ranked writing as the scarcest skill [in] the work force—scarcer only than leadership. These quotations alone, without any of the preceding information, tell me that writing and the whole idea of effective communication must be addressed before students leave high school.
If we make a commitment to implement more meaningful writing in our English classroom, not only will we give our students the opportunity to develop the greater skills of writing, general communication, and personal expression, but also we will strengthen the process for them to have a meaningful and successful future.

Understandings & Goals

Enduring Understanding:  1. I want my students to understand the importance of formulating a thesis statement and engaging in research to support their position. 2.  I also want students to recognize the importance of avoiding plagiarism and giving credit to sources for borrowed information by using MLA documentation. 3. Finally, I want students to evaluate their final writing product for a select number of important facts to incorporate into a PowerPoint presentation for their classmates.
Goal(s): 1. Work in pairs to develop a research paper.  2. Create an overview of the research findings for presentation to classmates.

Questions Answered

Essential questions: 1. How can you avoid being guilty of plagiarism in writing? 2. How will you construct and support a thesis statement? 3. How is a research paper using MLA format different from general writing that you have done for this course? 4. How will you select information from your research and present it to the class by using PowerPoint?
Objectives: 1. Students will select sources that contain information which is pertinent to their research topic and formulate notes by paraphrasing, summarizing and using quotations.  2. Students will develop a thesis statement.  3. Students will prepare an outline using Inspiration. 4. Students will develop a rough draft of their paper.  5. Students will edit and proofread among groups.  6. Students will compose a complete research paper using the MLA format based on specific rubric guidelines put in place by the teacher.  7. Students will select sources that contain information which is pertinent to their research topic and formulate notes by paraphrasing, summarizing and using quotations.  8. Following the presentations, students will write a short summary of their impressions of the different aspects of Elizabethan England / Shakespeare’s life, as explained in the PowerPoints.

Assessment

What quiz and test items (e.g. simple content-focused questions that require a single, best answer) will provide evidence of understanding?
Students will take a five-question, non-graded quiz over the PowerPoint presentation information. The questions will be displayed on the last slide. Written responses and oral discussion will take place, headed by the presenters. I do not think any other type of quiz would be appropriate for this project.
What academic prompts (e.g. open-ended questions or problems that require students to think critically and then to prepare a response / product / performance) will provide evidence of understanding?
Students will write a summary/response paper after viewing and listening to the PowerPoint information. They will be graded on conventions of writing, along with their personal input. Students will also be required to develop a thesis statement for their topic based on their research information. This will be graded for completion points, as well as a part of their completed research paper. Students will have to show how the thesis can be connected throughout the paper.
What performance tasks and projects (e.g. complex challenges that are authentic, mirror the real world and require a performance or product) will you include that will provide evidence of student understanding?
1. Students will be required to create an outline using Inspiration. 2. They will have to decide what information fits well under each heading and what information does not belong in their outline.  3. Additionally, students will be producing a research paper (complete with MLA format). 4. Finally, the pairs will select limited information from their reseach papers and present the information to the class.